Bite Me, It's Your Funeral
by brntpopcorn
Summary: Natrona was raised by vampires. It's all she knows, but when she's suddenly forced into the human world she learns that every one has their flaws and sometimes those flaws can be deadly


I always wondered where I came from. It was a good question, and well why they kept me around. I mean I knew I was different. There was no questioning it. I was "marked". Yes sir ee, "marked". I was a little confused on the whole thing. It happened when I was little, very little. I only know what I over heard people talking about it. They don't talk to my face. I think they're a little scared of me. I'm "scary". I love quotation masks. They just make everything seem more "special". I get bored. Anyways, as I was saying it happened when I was little. My mom was turned while she was pregnant with me. Now I know what happens normally, the baby gets "absorbed" or what ever. It disappears. I didn't. I was born, a human. So what would you do when a vampire had a baby? Why you'd turn it or course. Ha! Don't make me laugh. Let's just say I no longer have a mother, and well I might not exactly be human. I don't know and I don't care. I am who I am and that's me.

"Natrona?"

I turned my head and glared. Sheeler always walked right into my room. She thought she was my mother figure. I think not. She was no where near a mother; she just hadn't realized it yet. I was helping her with that. It was like my calling in life waking stupid people up to the truth.

"You know it's for the best," she said. I rolled my eyes. Best for who? They just wanted me gone and I guess they were getting it. Okay truth be told they were my family. They raised me. They took care of me. This was my home. I was comfortable here, even if they bugged the hell out me sometimes. Isn't that what families are for. It hurt for them to be doing this to me. It was like they didn't return the feeling. Cold heartless vampires. Sheeler pulled out the clothes I had packed. She pulled apart the balled up mess and began folding them and putting them back in my suit case. I hadn't been around people very much. I was "a little" nervous.

"Shut up," I growled. I stood up and walked into the bathroom and slammed the door. I sat down on the toilet seat. I made sure it was closed first. Trust me, that's a nasty mistake. I pulled my legs up on it and wrapped my arms around them. I was so not into this. Sheeler pounded on the door. I groaned and banged my head against my knees.

"It's for your own good Natrona," Sheeler whimper through the door. Own good my ass.

"Yuck, don't whine," I groaned. I couldn't take her whining right now.

"Natrona."

That was so not Sheeler. The deep voice made me lift my head and jump up. I opened the door and poked my head out.

"What are you doing?" Vermonter asked. His cold eyes sunk into me. I looked to Sheeler and wished she wasn't in the room. Vermonter just always made me confess my feelings. I couldn't hide anything from him. he was the one who had truly raised me. The simple way to put it was to say we were close, but that didn't really come close to it. He was everything to me, in the father like way. He was the main reason I couldn't leave. I had never been away from him. When I was little he would take me with when he went out to feed.

"Sheeler get out," he said. She pouted, but left. He sat down on my bed and patted next to him. I came out of the bathroom and sat down. I loved how squishy my bed was. I sank in.

"You know I will miss you," he said. I nodded. I could feel myself getting choked up. He was the only one I would actually cry around. I mean he changed my diapers for God's sake. Crying is so not as embarrassing as that.

"I know," I said. "I just . . . I can't do it. I can't leave you guys. I mean . . . humans-

"Aren't that bad," he cut me off. I looked at him and he smiled. "You can't live with us forever. You can come home for every break."

"Will you come visit me?" I asked.

"Of coarse," he said. "I have something for you." He reached in his jacket pocket. He must have just comeback from feeding. He was still wearing his jacket. He pulled out a bright red cell phone. I took it from him and looked it over in his hands. It was my favorite color. The same color as my new luggage, and the same color as my first memory. I consider it my first memory, but it's really just the color red. I love red, all shades.

"Thanks," I said.

"I'm giving this to you on one condition."

"Yeah?"

"Call me. Every day. If you miss one day" He didn't need to finish. I got the hint and I secretly cherished the message behind it, not like I would show it.

"Everyday," I groaned. He gave me a menacing glare that would freeze the blood of any normal human. I could see right through him. I played along and put my hands up in front of me. "Okay, okay. Everyday."

"You better," he growled and walked out of the room. It was just the way we were. We never did the whole 'lovey dovey father child I'm so proud of you' thing. It just wasn't our style, but the message was clearly there underneath. I hugged the phone close to me and looked at my now organized suit case. I pulled out all the folded clothes and balled them back up. I like messy. The charger to the phone was tucked neatly into the side. Sheeler must have known he was going to give it to me. I smiled. That meant he had wanted to give it to me himself. I flipped the phone open and opened my phone book. They had all put their numbers in.

I had never been to a human school. I had never been around so many human. Hell I had only been in the sunlight twice in my life. Once when I forgot to bring the garbage out and once when I was chasing the cat. I hated that stupid cat. I hated the stupid sun. I felt afraid being in it. I knew it wasn't going to burn me, just like I knew the humans weren't going to hurt me, but it was imprinted on me. Years of growing with people who feared the sun had made me fear it. I stuck to the shadows around the school. The student giving me the tour kept giving me weird looks. I had no idea how a human was supposed to act. I probably looked like a wet cat, scared, confused, and totally pitiful.

"This is the dining hall," the girl said. She pushed open the double doors and I gladly scampered into the room. The heat of the sun was really throwing me off. Who knew it actually made you feel hot and not just gave off light. I glared back out the door at it.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. She gave me one final glance then continued off past the rows of long tables. I watched the way she walked and tried to mimic it. I must admit I had the graceful long gait of a vampire. "This is where the line for the line for the food is. There will be two choices at each meal, one in each line. You can get either." She continued on through the doors. "This building is the English building. It has the English classes in it." She led me down all the hallways and I could see rows of humans sitting in desk all staring to the front. I had seen schools on TV plenty of times, but actually being in one was creepy, the whole silence of the hallways, and the order. I didn't like it.

"Well that's pretty much it for the school. I'll show you to your room," she said. I rubbed my still warm shoulders at the thought of going back outside. Lucky for me there was a skyway from the English building heading over a small river to the building I was staying in. she shoved door number 207 open. "Here." She handed me the little key and walked off. I sighed. I was finally rid of them, or so I thought.

I walked into my room and was greeted by my suitcase sitting on a plain bed. It was blue, dark blue. I could deal. What I couldn't deal with was the girl sitting on the matching bed across the room from it, the extremely small room. She smiled at me and I crinkled my nose. The room smelled like flowers.

"Oh my God you must be my new room mate. I can already tell me are going to be such good friends," she said. She closed the book she was reading and bounded off the bed towards me. I almost fled right there. I would just call Vermonter and tell him I couldn't do it. He was rich. He could support me for the rest of my life. Wait, he could. Why the hell had he sent me here then. There was no time to think about it. She shoved her hand out at me. "I'm Christmas Day."

I looked at her hand and pushed past her. "Yeah. I'm Natrona Interline," I said. I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes. I was so not used to being up during the day. This room really was tiny. Prestigious school my ass, you think they'd have bigger rooms, or no roommates. Humans are idiots. Christmas didn't bother me for the short part left of the evening. All she said to me was say good night before she went to bed.

I woke in the middle of the night, and guess what. I was wide awake. I plugged in my phone charger checked to make sure Christmas was asleep and called Vermonter. This sucked and he was definitely going to hear about it. He answered immediately.

"Hello?" he said. I could hear cars in the background. I gushed.

So I had a week of no classes to get used to the school. How nice of them. Everyone had the first week after move in off to explore the school, get used to one another. I did not feel like exploring the school or getting used to one another. I didn't feel like trying to fit in. I was homesick, so I did the only thing that kept my mind off it. I slept. There is one problem in that plan, you can't sleep all the time.

"You sure sleep in late," Christmas said. She perched on the edge of my bed and I glared at her. "It your first year away from home?"

"Yeah," I said. I sat up and tried to glare harder. She really wasn't getting the hint.

"Yeah, it's really hard the first time. I remember when I was . . ." I rolled my eyes. She was going to go on about this. "That was only the first year, and a little the second. I got used to it after that. I'd be home and I'd be getting school sick. I missed my mom the most because I used to spend a lot of time with her. I brought a picture of her and put it under my pillow for awhile."

"I'm tired," I said. I shoved her with my feet and her skinny little self popped right of my bed. I rolled on my side so I faced the wall.

"But you've been sleeping all day," she whined. Wow, she was reminding me of Sheeler. I curled in a ball and pulled the blanket over my head. "Doing something really takes your mind off home. If you just lay there you'll keep thinking about it and thinking about it and making it worse. Please come do something with me." Then she fell into a chorus of pleases. I think I was in hell.

"Fine! Will you shut up if I go?" I growled. She didn't answer. She ripped the blanket off me. I lay there in shock for a second. I sat up and stared at her. She smiled at me and threw the blanket on the floor.

"Do you want to get ready first?" she asked.

So, I didn't kill her. In fact she even managed to pick out my outfit. She tried for the hair too, but no amount of pleases would make me let her touch my hair. Let's just say that after looking at her blond barby doll hair. That's not saying that the rest of her didn't look like a barby doll too. She had me dressed in a matching outfit. I was scowling as we walked down the hallway. She kept looking over at me and smiling. It was creeping me out.

"You know, I don't think that's your color," she mused. I had to agree with her on that one. Yellow was so not my color. "But your legs look really good in that skirt. You have a nice figure. I bet a lot of my clothes would look good on you. You can borrow them anytime."

"Can you shut up?" I groaned.

"Maybe if you talked a little more I wouldn't have to talk so much. I hate the quiet. My house is always too quiet. I love all the people being here," she said.

"Fine, what do you want me to talk about?" I asked.

"Oh my God!" She grabbed me and dragged me around the corned. She peered back around it. I rubbed my arm. Was it just me or had she suddenly developed super human strength. "There goes Cinder Shinier. He has to be the hottest guy in school."

"Okay, so then why are we hiding behind the wall?" I asked. She looked at me like I was crazy.

"He's way out of my league. I have no chance with him, and well it's embracing," she said. I poked my head out above hers.

"Which one is he?" I asked.

"The one in the middle," she whispered.

There was a group of guys walking up the hallway. There were five of them, three in the front and two in the back. They were all talking and laughing about something. They were still a ways up the hall. Of the front three the one in the middle was the tallest. He wasn't freakishly tall, just taller than the two on the sides of him. He was laughing at the one to his right. The one on his right had a mop of blond hair. He was extremely tan and looked he had spent the whole summer on a beach some where. The one two his left had short black hair and bushy eyebrows. The two behind him looked almost identical with redish blond hair identical smiles, but it was the one in the middle that held my attention. He was fairly good looking, I had to admit. Of coarse he was nothing compared to the vampires I was used to. He looked like he must be mixed. He wasn't to light skinded though. It was his eyes. He had amazing green eyes. I could see them from all the way down the hallway. They were piercing. He looked away from the blond and his eyes met mine. Christmas eeped and yanked her head back. She leaned against the wall and held her hands over her mouth mortified.

"He saw me," she cried. I scoffed. I grabbed Christmas and walked out into the hallway. The group stopped and watched as I walked right over to them. I stopped in front of Cinder and looked up at him. He had a curious look on his face. He cocked an eyebrow. I looked him over. He was definitely no vampire.

"You're not that hot," I said. I heard Christmas gasp behind me. I turned to walk away.

"Damn mami, what about me?" asked the one on his left asked. He had a slight Spanish accent. I turned around and looked him over.

"You don't want to know," I said and walked away. Christmas scurried after me.

"You think I got a chance with her?" I heard him ask as we left.

"I can't believe you did that," she breathed as soon as we turned the corner. She clutched at my arm. I shrugged her off. I didn't need human's touching me. It was funny, technically I was one of them. I was a human, yet I felt more out of place with them than with vampires. It shouldn't be that way and yet it was. I still didn't consider myself one of them. I think in my mind I put myself in with the vampires.

My first class was mortifying. I always knew humans were stupid, but this was unbelievable. Some of them were on my level, but some of them were absolute idiots. They needed every single thing repeated to them. I didn't know if I could sit through the teacher explaining the seating chart one more time. She was even looking sick of it. Her name was Ms. Mendes. She looked barely older than me. Her long straight hair fell to the middle of her back. She had it down and it fascinated me. I was just waiting for her to shut it in a drawer or the door that might be better. Sadly it didn't happen. She managed the hair with a practiced ease. I could not see the point in hair that long.

Second hour was history. I knew nothing of history. This was the class I needed to pay the most attention in. I had the most to learn here. To bad he didn't teach anything. He went over the rules. That was it. He passed out some rules then he very slowly and thoroughly went over the basically self explanatory rules. They were pretty much common sense, but apparently we needed to keep talking about it.

Third hour something amazing happened. I walked into class and I nearly fell over. I actually started backing up after I enter. It was pottery and in the many windowed art building. Sun was pouring in through all the windows and it was doing nothing for the teacher. She was the first elderly person I had ever seen in real life. Vampires don't age remember. I really hadn't prepared myself for this. Ms. Erstwhile was leaning on a cane. She had a deeply wrinkled face from years of scowling. Her eyes were a light, translucent blue, and her hair was a wispy white. She had it pulled back in a loose bun. Fly a ways surrounded her face. She was short and plump and wrinkled. Her hands were large and knotted. I stared at her and she stared back.

"Take a seat," she napped. I jumped and quickly took a seat at the back table. Ms. Erstwhile and I did not get off to a good start. What made it worse was when Cinder, one of the twins and the blond came and sat at my table with me. I had expected them to sit away, but no way. Cinder sat directly across from me and the others quickly joined him.

"So, you don't think I'm that hot," he said. I glared at him and scoffed. The blond snickered.

"My names Nariel," said the redsish brown haired one. He leaned forward and smiled at me.

"I'm Gabe," said the blond next to me. I looked at him.

"Not gunna tell us your name?" Cinder asked.

"No," I said.

"There will be no talking while I'm talking," Ms. Erstwhile snapped at me. I narrowed my eyes and shut my mouth. She talked about all the pottery equipment, proper care of the clay, and so on. I tuned out. It was Cinder that brought me back.

"If you don't tell me your name, I'll just have to pick one," he said. I saw the mischievous grins on his friends. I don't think I wanted him picking a name for me.

"Natrona," I said.

"I don't like it," he said. He looked to Gabe and the smile spread to his face. "I think I'll call you Pleasant."

I was a little confused and I was afraid to ask it, but I did. "Why?"

"Well I was thinking about it and maybe if you heard the word more you could try being it sometimes."

"Who said I wasn't pleasant?"

"It's kinda obvious," Gabe said. I turned my gaze to him and he shut his mouth and looked away. I turned back to Cinder. He was smirking.

"Prove me wrong," he said. I glared at him. I really didn't like him.

The rest of the day was boring. Christmas was in my last two classes. We had five. Turned out Christmas had a best friend named Molly. Molly also happened to be in my last two classes. I also met some one I was pretty sure I was going to hate more than Cinder. Lintels Fisherman, or Lin as everyone calls her. Lin was Christmas's tormenter. For some reason the girl just hated her. Lin was in our fifth hour with us she sat next to me. She liked me right away, scary as that is to say. Lin actually liked me until Thomas, Cinder's dark haired friend, said something to me about our earlier incident. I don't know what happened, but Lin turned on me too. It was fine with me. She may have liked me, but I never liked her. The fake tan was not my thing. I think she was wearing color contacts too, and her hair looked like definite weave, or at least extensions. How fake can one person get?

Molly came back to our room with us. Her hair was even blonder than Christmas's. I was amazed. She bounced along singing and twirling as we walked across the middle courtyard to the building our room was in. I tried to ignore the two of them as Christmas began to join in and they grabbed hands and spun each other. Some one leaned on my shoulder and I quickly turned and shoved Cinder off. He pouted and stepped closer to me. All five of them were back together again.

"What do you want?" I growled. He smiled.

"That's no way to great your best friend," Cinder said. Christmas and Molly stopped singing. I knew they were both drooling over him. Molly was just as obsessed.

"Who said you were my best friend?" I asked.

"Who said I wasn't?" he leaned in and answered.

"I am," I snapped. I turned and walked away. I grabbed Christmas's arm and dragged her behind me. Molly waved to them then chased after us. I stormed up to my room and flopped down on my bed. These humans were really trying my patients. I felt Christmas and Molly sit on my bed with me. I groaned and covered my face with me arms.

"Oh my God, how can you just talk to him like that? I always get all tongue tied, and I totally think he likes you," Molly said.

"He's just a human," I groaned.

"Just human! What are you blind?"

"She thinks he's not that hot," Christmas said. Molly gave a classic gasp. I needed to get out of here.

"How can you say that? Is he not your type? What is your type?" Molly asked.

"I'm going for a walk," I said and got up. They both made to follow me. "Alone." They sat back down with equal looks of disappointment. I walked out the door and sighed with relief. I fingered the phone in my pocket. I needed to find some where private.

I wandered around the exceptionally large campus for awhile. There were groups of people every where. I say groups because no one else seemed to be wandering alone. It wasn't until it was nearly dark out that I found a stop under a tree. It was big and old and the knotted trunk gave me a feeling of comfort for some reason. I knew I was missing dinner, but I didn't really care. Lunch hadn't been that great, and I wasn't very hungry. I hadn't been very hungry since I got here. I think that was how I handled my home sickness, not feeling hungry. I sat down under the tree and called Juries. He had lived in the house with me and always been a good friend. His was the voice I wanted to hear now. I held the little cell phone to my ear and listen to the song he had playing. He answered before it got to my favorite part.

"Aw I was enjoying that," I said.

"Yeah, it's nice to hear from you too," he said.

"Hold on, let me call back and this time don't answer."

"You're hurting my feelings. You wake me up when I was having the best dream and you don't even want to talk to me."

"Maybe if you didn't put such a good song I would want to talk to you."

"I know. I call myself just to listen sometimes."

"That's sad you know."

"Not as sad as calling your best friend and saying you don't want to talk to them."

"Who ever said you were my best friend?"

"You did." He gasped. "You haven't found some one else?"

"No they're all stupid humans here. I mean it's really bad. I have no idea why anyone would want me to be like them."

"That's why we drink their blood. They're all stupid. The world would be so much better with out them. Well then we'd starve, but you know what I'm saying."

"I know. You would not believe the things they do and ahhh I just want to come home." I leaned my head back against the tree and looked up at the sky. I loved the sky just before it got dark; it was so much more beautiful that before it got light. I just listened to Juries breathing into the other end of the phone. It was all I needed. It helped to calm me down. I listen to his breathing grow more shallow and I was pretty sure he had fallen back to sleep.

"What are you doing?" I jumped and dropped my phone. Cinder had walked around the tree behind me. I spun around towards him and picked up my phone. I shut it and hung up Juries. He was sleeping and would never know.

"What are you doing" I growled.

"You weren't at dinner so I thought I'd come find you." He shrugged.

"Why?"

"'cause I'm stalking you," he mocked.

"Don't," I said and started walking away from him. He walked up next to me. Damn him and his long legs. He matched my pace.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked.

"Where are all your friends? I thought you things traveled in packs."

"That's a strange way to put it, but I told them I had to go to the bathroom. So who were you talking to?"

"A friend."

"So where did you go to school before this?"

"Why are you asking all these questions?"

"'cause I want to know. There's something different about you." I nearly stopped in my tracks when he said that. I hadn't realized I was being that obvious. I tried to keep my face blank and keep walking.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. He stopped walking and was just staring at me. I had never felt more awkward in my life. I stopped walking and looked back at him. His eyes were so bright. They seemed to be glowing in the low light. He had that over the amazing looks of the vampires. None of their eyes seemed to glow like his. He smirked and I looked away.

"You don't know where you're going, do you?" he said. I looked around and realized I didn't. I glared at him.

"Yes I do. You just don't know where I'm going," I said. He smiled.

"Where then?" I looked around. I wanted to go back to my room, but then I had no idea where that was. I pointed in a random direction.

"That way." I set off at a fast pace. I groaned when I saw him start walking with me. He didn't say anything else, but that smug smile never left his face. I tried to ignore him. I walked until I ran into a building and changed directions. I walked faster and he still followed me. This time I walked down one of the paths, until it led into a fence. Who makes a path that leads into a fence? I was not happy. I set off again. This seemed to be going the right way, until I was pretty sure this was the way to the building I had already ran into. Then I saw the art building. I slowed down and looked at it. Now if only I could remember where the art building was. It was all so much different in the dark.

"Just admit that you're lost," he said.

"No. now quit following me," I said. I turned and started walking in a random direction. He didn't follow me.

"It's not that way," he said. I glowered at him and started in another direction.

"It's not that way," he said again. There was even more amusement in his voice this time.

"You don't even know where I'm going," I snapped.

"To your dorm," he said with that cocky smile.

"No." I turned and started walking toward him. I walked past him and continued back the way we came. He jogged up beside me.

"It's not this way either." I glared at him and walked faster. I really wish I had a better sense of direction, but I don't. "Do you want me to tell you were it is?"

"You don't know where I'm going." I did not need help from a stupid human.

"So you're not going to your dorm them? You must be going to mine."

I turned and started walking across the grass. I was not going to his dorm.

"See you are," he said. I stopped walking and rounded on him.

"How do I get to my dorm," I growled through gritted teeth.

"First admit you're lost," he said smirking at me. I took off my flip flop and threw it at him. He caught it. I threw it hard too. I was really disappointed. He was smiling. I could tell he was enjoying this. He turned and started walking away, with my flip flop. I didn't care. I turned and stormed off in the direction I had been going. After about another half hour of wondering around I found my room. I took a nice hot shower and went right to bed.

I was sitting in first hour and not in any better of a mood. It was my creative writing class. I like writing. It was one thing I always liked. I kicked Christmas's pair of shoes under my desk, they were orange sneakers and I had to admit they were cute. They matched the orange top she dressed me in. the top was not the greatest, but it got her to quit talking to me during breakfast. Orange was at least better than yellow. I was scribbling in my note book. I was drawing the back of the guys head in front of me. It was more interesting than you would think. I was starting to put cat ears on the top of his head, I had gone a little abstract at the end, when a ball of paper hit my head. I glared around the room and my eyes settled on Nariel. I knew it was him and not his twin because I had seen them earlier and noticed that he was wearing a red shirt today. I hadn't noticed that he was in this class with me. He was two rows over and directly across from me. He smiled and waved to me. I tried to ignore him for the rest of the hour, but in the last 15 minutes that apparently we always got for free time he decided to come over and sit on my desk. A girl came and joined him. I tried to ignore both of them, but it's pretty hard when one of them sits on your desk.

"So Natrona, you want to be in our group for the research project?" Nariel asked. I hadn't even noticed I was to busy with my half guy in front of me half cat drawing. The girl snatched it off my desk and started looking at it. She looked between the sketch and the guy in front of me. Nariel and I both watched her.

"Oh my God Hisser," she screeched. The guy in front of her turned around and she showed my note book to him. "Natrona did it of you."

He smiled and looked at me. "Can I have it," he asked taking the note book from the girl.

"Sure," I said. He ripped the page out of my note book and handed it back to the girl.

"My names Candy. Can you please do one of me, mixed with like a squirrel?" she asked. I looked at Candy and I could see the resemblance between her and a squirrel. It made me smile.

"Wow! I think that's the first time I've seen you smile," Nariel said. My smiled died. "No! Bring it back."

Candy shoved in front of him. "So can you?"

"Sure," I said.

"And will you be in our group?" Nariel asked. "Hisser you can be in it too."

My worries about this whole human thing were slowly dying. The more I was around them the more I realized they were all different, and well a little blind.

At lunch I sat with Christmas and Molly again along with their friends Handover, Carper, and Endows. They all seemed nice enough, but talked like the mindless dolls they looked like. Who was wearing what, who did what, who's with who. I stopped listening. No need to melt my brain anymore than it already is. I picked at the food. It just didn't look good. Every on just let me be. It was nice, but almost not. I don't know how to explain it. It made we want to get out of lunch is all I know. I was glad when it ended and I got to go to third hour, until Cinder caught up with me in hallway. He placed an arm around me and I shoved him off. I stopped walking and glared at him. We needed to get this out of the way now.

"Leave me alone," I said. He smiled.

"Sorry, but I just can't do that," he said. I narrowed my eyes and tried to stare him down. He cocked an eyebrow.

"Fine," I sighed and continued walking to class. He didn't walk with me this time. He went to talk to some one else in the hall. To my surprise Gabe walked with me.

"So Natrona, can I just call you Nat?" he asked. I shrugged. "Good. Did you just move here or something?"

"No. My family sent me away," I sighed.

"Sorry. What'd you do?"

"Nothing, apparently they had been planning to send me away for a while."

"Oh. I got sent here when my dad got remarried. She wanted the kids sent away so they could get to know each other better. It wasn't suppose to be permanent, but I've been going here ever since."

"Wow, she must be really pretty to do that," I said.

"Yeah, she is. She's closer to my age than my dad's," Gabe laughed it sounded slightly bitter, but warm.

"Trophy wife?"

"The perfect definition." We walked into the art building and found our seats. Ms. Erstwhile glared at me.

"She really doesn't like you," he whispered to me. I smirked. We took our seats. Nariel came bounding in and sat with us. He was out of breath and grinning like an idiot. Apparently this was normal because Gabe didn't seem to even notice. I chose to ignore it too. Nariel had begun digging through his backpack.

"You know Cinder's not that bad," Gabe said. I looked at him like he was crazy. Nariel poked his head out of the pile of stuff he had on the table. He winked at me then dove back in. papers were flying everywhere.

"Most girls are always falling all over him," Gabe said. Nariel pretended to be a girl and batted his eyes then did a fake faint and fell out of his chair. Ms. Erstwhile was glaring at him. He waved to her as climbed back up into his chair. She shook her head, but didn't say anything. Class hadn't actually started yet. I laughed.

"It's just 'cause he thinks of you as like a challenge," Gabe said. He ignored Nariel half his papers fell onto the floor.

"Oh, well in that case I feel so special," I said as sarcastically as I could. I rolled my eyes and leaned my head on the table. Cinder walked into the room and took his seat with us. He gave Nariel half a glance then turned to me.

"So did you miss me, Pleasant?" he asked.

"Terribly," I mumbled into the table.

All we did for the rest of class was watch a movie on making pinch pots, and then Ms. Erstwhile re-explained everything that had been on the video. I was just glad tomorrow we actually got to start working on making something.

I started across the courtyard to the building I had Math in. I found Lin and a group of other girls I had never met before; though I was sure a few of them were in my other classes. I groaned. She was staring at me and I knew something was coming.

"Oh my God," Lin shrieked as I got near. "I didn't know it was possible, but I think you actually gained weight over night. Now you're not only a bitch, but you're fat as well."

I tilted my head and looked at the anorexic twig in front of me. I guess compared to her I was morbidly obese, and I couldn't deny the bitch thing.

"Oh my God, and I thought you were to stupid to notice," I mimicked her voice. She kept that pleasant smile on her face and walked towards me. Her whole group followed her. I tried to mimic her smile, then I exaggerated it. She didn't think it was as funny. As soon as she got up in front of me she grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me so I was in her face. She was taller than me. The smile melted off my face. Who did she think she was? If spitting wasn't against everything I believe in she would be getting a big wad of it right about now. I balled my fists and was ready to show her what was what when my cell phone started ringing. I smiled and carefully pried her hand off my shirt. I pulled the phone out of my pocket and looked at the number, Vermonter. I held up a finger and flipped it open.

"Hello?" I said like I didn't have a care in the world. I could see Lin opening her mouth and I held a finger up to my lips. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Why didn't you call me?" Vermonter growled through my phone.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" I asked.

"Natrona, don't you ever forget to call me again." He did not sound happy at all.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I won't forget again," I said.

"Good." He hung up. I rolled my eyes and closed my phone. Lin was tapping her foot looking at me.

"Now where were we?" I asked. "Oh yeah." In one quick movement I grabbed the front of her shirt and yanked her tall self down to my level. To my surprise no one in her group even moved.

"If you ever touch me again I will make it so you can never touch anything again," I growled. It had a strong likeness to the voice Vermonter had just used on me. I let go of her and pushed past through the group. They moved out of my way. Apparently they were all looks. I laughed and shook my head as I made it the rest of the way to my fourth hour. Some people were just sad. I sat down next to Molly and in front of Christmas. They were already in class.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Molly asked.

"Can't I be in a good mood?" I asked. The smile was already gone. Christmas turned around and smiled at me.

"Did you do your math homework?" she asked.

"We had math homework?"

Let's just say both Christmas and I are already failing math. It's okay; it was never my subject anyway. I really need to start paying more attention in class. Who knew they actual said stuff that might be important?

Being turned never crossed my mind. It was weird how I never even considered it an option. I knew I was different from them, but it didn't make me feel different if that makes any sense. I've always been happy with who I was, maybe not always how I looked, but what I am. I never considered myself a human. I never classified myself. I classified everyone around me, but never myself. That's just the way that I was. I think it was because I was always happy. I had always been happy, don't get me wrong. I was a normal child. I threw fits had tantrums, pouted, and avoided as much responsibility as I could, but I was never truly sad. I was sad now. I didn't like it here, and I felt out of place surrounded by them.

I was getting used to sleeping at night by the second week and I was starting to enjoy some of my classes. I had fallen into a pattern. Each day was exactly the same as the last; substitute a few things here and there. I liked Christmas and could tolerate Molly and Handover or Handi. I didn't exactly like Carper or Endows. I was getting the feeling that Cinder was like a giant malignant tumor that needed to be removed very soon. It was Saturday and Cinder was outside my room leaning against the wall. Thomas was next to him. To my horror Lin was talking to him. Her group giggled and added in here and there. To my surprise Candy was with them. She smiled and waved at me. I smiled. I was glad Christmas and Molly were already out some where. They had a hard time with the whole Lin experience. Speak of the devil, she turned her head and glared at me. I previous threat had apparently worn off.

"Guess what day it is, Ples?" Cinder asked. I rolled my eyes and started walking the other direction. I smiled as I heard the Lin gang's cries of disappointment as he followed me.

"Don't worry ladies. Thomas knows how to show you a good time," I heard Thomas say behind me.

"It's Saturday," Cinder said as he walked beside me. I was surprised to see Candy had followed him instead. "Do you know what that means?"

"I don't know, tomorrows Sunday? Yesterday was Friday?" I said.

"Oh my God you're a genius," Candy said.

"You finally noticed."

"You hide it good."

"You're ruining my news," Cinder broke in.

"Okay what does Saturday mean?" Candy asked. She rolled her eyes at me. I smiled and waited for Cinder to answer. He glared at us both.

"Fine don't tell us," I said. I pushed out the side doors and into the courtyard. The sunlight felt good. I stopped in my tracks. Had I just thought that? I hated the sun. then I suddenly felt sad, thinking of my family and how they couldn't feel this.

"You okay Ples?" Cinder asked. I nodded my head. I touched the red phone in my pocket. They were all sleeping right now. I wondered if any of them were dreaming about me.

"Fine I'll tell you. It's try outs," he said.

"Oh my God you're right," Candy said. She clapped her hands together. "I got to go check the schedule." She scampered off across the courtyard.

"She's big into basketball," Cinder said. "What are you going to try out for?"

I had never thought about sports. I had messed around, but never actually played, or really followed the rules. Juries and I were big cheaters. I couldn't imagine being on a team. I had always been horrible. Maybe because I always played with vampires. They tend to be extremely good at sports. I had no idea how I was compared to other humans.

"I'm not. I'm really bad at sports," I said.

"I bet you're not. You look pretty athletic," he said.

"I'm not fishing for a compliment. I really suck."

"You should try out anyways."

So here I was at volleyball try outs. I must admit I had only played volleyball with a real net once. We owned a volley ball and I bumped it around the house, set it sometimes, and kicked it. That was it. I didn't even know the rules for volleyball. Christmas, Molly, and Carper all tried out with me. Apparently Carper had been on the team last year and had talked Christmas and Molly into coming, and now they were dragging me with. I had to admit volleyball didn't sound too hard.

I was wrong. First we ran laps because apparently laps were fun. I was a little upset right away, but then I realized I was fast compared to them. This was almost as shocking as Ms. Erstwhile. I was pacing myself. It was crazy. I knew humans were weak, but it was still shocking. I had to volleyball talent after that. I took my position in the middle and put my hands together. The ball hit me in the head for a second time.

"You know you should go try out for track or something," Carper said.

"What's track," I growled. I didn't like people insulting me and that had sounded a lot like an insult. I was assuming track was a sport where you caught balls with your head, or maybe in was like dodge ball. Yes I know dodge ball. I loved that game. I never won and it most consisted of me getting pummeled by the ball, but I still loved it.

I watched quite a few heads turn towards me and Carper's jaw dropped.

"How can you not know what track is?" asked Jester, one of the girls on the other side of the net who was in my history class. She seemed like a total anti-sports person. I was surprised to see her here.

I shrugged. "What is it?"

"It's like running and shot put and pole vaulting. You would be really good at the running I bet. Oh my God what time is it?" Molly asked. She found a clock on the gym wall. "I bet we can still make it." She ran out and grabbed my arm and dragged me off the volleyball court and out the gym doors.

"You're going to miss the tryouts," I said as she dragged me down the hallway.

"It's okay. Trust me everyone already knows you and me weren't going to make it," Molly said. She dragged me all the way around to the other side of the building and out the doors. There was the track field. There was a large track leading in an oval. There were a few people on it and a few people doing the things set up in the middle, but most of them were gathered around the fence at the outside. Molly dragged me right over to them. I was starting to have regrets. I didn't even really want to be in a sport.

"Are tryouts over?" Molly asked. They turned towards us and quit talking.

Molly stayed with me the whole time. Tryouts were apparently over, but they made an exception for me. Everyone got to watch sense they were all done. I wanted to kill Molly. Then she started cheering for me. It was tryouts for God's sake. I ignored her. I did my best and let's just say I made the team. The problem was they had already filled the spots. So that meant I would be showing up to practice and have to bump some one else off. The coach was excited, but I was not. I think Molly was the most excited off us all. She pranced me back to my room. Christmas was flopped across her bed. She looked beat, but she popped up and smiled at us as soon as we walked in the room.

"Did you make it?" Molly asked. She plopped herself down on my bed, which I had been looking forward to laying on. My legs were tired. I shoved her off. She fell on the floor and sat there like I hadn't just shoved her off. I ignored it and lay down on my bed.

"They post the list tomorrow morning. I can't wait. Carper said I did really good. She thinks I definitely made it," Christmas said. She bounced lightly on the end of her bed. I stopped listening to her let myself fall asleep. When I woke up Christmas and Molly were gone. I sat up and stretched and pulled out my cell phone. It was still light out. No one would answer if I called. I tried anyway. I wanted to at least hear their voices on the mail box. I called Aoki. She was the youngest and I knew she rarely slept. She wasn't much of an early riser more of a stay up late, but I had hope and it paid off. She answered.

"Yellloooow," she chimed.

"What are you doing up?" I asked.

"Are you checking up on me young lady?" Aoki asked. I smiled and flopped back on my bed.

"Naw, I'm just bored," I said.

"Are the humans not treating you good. If you're having any problems just tell me and I'll take care of them."

"No. it's just weird."

"Yeah I bet. Ew I bet you stink like them now. I don't know if I can be seen with you anymore."

"Like I'd give you a choice."

"So when are you coming back? When do you get a brake?"

"Christmas," I groaned.

"Not 'til Christmas," she shrieked.

"No no," I said. Christmas had just walked into the room with Molly, Handover, Carper, and Endows. "That's my room mate and it looks like she brought all her friends. I'll call you back later."

"You want me to take care of her?"

"No. I'll call you back later, and try and talk Vermonter into letting me come back."

"Yeah, I will." I closed my phone and glared at them. I could not deal with the whole group. They were all talking and gesturing and it was amazing me that no one had poked an eye out yet. They sounded like a flock of seagulls. I didn't care what they were talking about. I got up and left them to their gossip.

I didn't know were else to go. I was sure they were serving dinner, but I didn't want any of it. It was macaroni and cheese or grilled cheese. What kind of choice is that? Cheese on noodles or cheese on bread, no thanks.


End file.
